Religion: Pro-Labor Priests

How does the Roman Catholic Church stand on labor unions? Aging, white-haired Pope Leo XIII gave the answer in 1891 in his encyclical, Rerum Novarum:

. . . Workmen's associations should be so organized and governed as to furnish the best and most suitable means for attaining what is aimed at, that is to say, for helping each individual member to better his condition to the utmost in body, mind and property.

Many a turn-of-the-century Catholic found the Holy Father's blessing of labor unions hard to take. But as the West began to put out its lights and erect its barricades, more &. more of the hierarchy and priesthood began to study Leo's words. Even the most politically conservative could no longer ignore them when in 1931 scholarly Pius XI, in his Quadragesimo Anno, called upon the priesthood to select good Catholics for labor leadership and to undertake "intense study of social matters."

Most tangible U.S. result of Quadragesimo Anno is the growing Association of Catholic Trade Unionists, founded in 1937 to promote good unionism among Catholic workers and good Catholicism among unionists. Individual priests, like Pittsburgh's rambunctious Father Charles Rice, have marched in picket lines and attacked the bosses as ardently as any card-holding Communist. But as to the general labor attitude of the working priesthood, there have been few reliable straws in the wind. Last week, trend spotters had one to chew on.

In the current American Ecclesiastical Review, Father Joseph F. Donnelly, director of the Hartford (Conn.) Diocesan Labor Institute, analyzed the results of an examination on the social encyclicals given this spring to the junior clergy*of his diocese. Some of his findings:

The Mother Church, most young priests felt, is far to the left of her children—and many of her pastors. Sample answers: "Catholics for the most part do not judge . . . unions from a Catholic viewpoint, but rather from the viewpoint of their social status." "Catholics are ignorant of the social teachings of the Church." "The Church has the teaching. More priests should teach it and preach it. . . ."

"Are workingmen morally obliged to join a union?" asked the exam. The priestly consensus: a qualified yes. "Certainly all those who enjoy benefits gained by a union are obliged to join and protect the welfare of themselves and others."

How did the junior clergy rate A.F.L. and C.I.O.? Too much Communism in C.I.O., was the usual reply; yet C.I.O.'s industrial unionization and nonrestrictive policies seemed preferable to A.F.L. organization by crafts.

What do they think of union-needling Columnist Westbrook Pegler? Pungent examples: "Westbrook Pegler is a knight in brilliant array who should be knocked from his horse." "A sour-vinegar writer . . . who exposes the abuses of labor unions without giving due account to the good work that most unions do."

C.I.O.'s President Philip Murray, a Catholic, once said to Father Donnelly: "What the C.I.O. is trying to do is basically in the social encyclicals of the Church." It looked as though the younger priesthood, at least, had begun to agree.